Make a Cubist Collage

Picasso often made collages during his cubist period. A collage is made when images, coloured shapes or lettering are cut from items such as newspapers or magazines or labels and glued to another surface to make a new picture. In his collages, Picasso particularly liked using newspapers and sometimes he made drawings over the images and lettering he had cut out.

To make your own collage first of all think of an idea. Perhaps you would like to make a still life collage or a collage of people or perhaps a landscape.

Then look through old magazines or newspapers for pictures of fruit, bottles, faces, trees or other images to link in with your idea. There are lots of colours in these magazines – if the exact image of what you are looking for isn’t there why not cut out the shape yourself.

You could also add 3D objects such as leaves, pieces of sponge or unwanted material from around the garden or house.

Take a piece of paper and arrange these cut out shapes and objects on your page. Mix and match different sizes and images. When you are happy with your composition glue your shapes and cut outs to the page. If you like, you could add other objects to your collage by drawing them in on your page.

Click on the link to the right to download a ready-to-make collage of Garden Green by Norah McGuinness.